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Self-driving vehicles held back by poor 4G and potholes

Potholes can confuse autonomous vehicles while a weak 4G connection means they're unable to properly communicate with each other and traffic systems.

The development of self-driving vehicles in the UK is being held back by poor broadband and potholes, a new report says

Auditing, tax and advisory specialists KPMG found that the UK “lags behind other countries in 4G coverage” and that these slow speeds prevent autonomous vehicles from communicating with each other and traffic systems as effectively.

The country’s commitment to providing better infrastructure was noted however, as a significant amount of 5G testing continues ahead of its launch in mid 2019.

Potholes are a real issue for driverless cars because if road markings have been worn away they might not be able to read it properly and so could make the wrong decision on what to do.

The UK’s pothole problem has been well documented, with this report highlighting that it’s particularly bad around smaller towns and villages which impacts the amount of driverless cars which can be used there.

Public scepticism about driverless cars is also apparently higher in the UK than some of the other 25 countries KPMG included in the study.

Out of these 25 countries, the UK ranked seventh for how well its preparing for the arrival of driverless technology behind The Netherlands, Singapore, the US, Sweden and Finland.